Apoptosis-inducing factor (AIF): A ubiquitous mitochondrial oxidoreductase involved in apoptosis

Eric Daugas, Dominique Nochy, Luigi Ravagnan, Markus Loeffler, Santos A. Susin, Naoufal Zamzami, Guido Kroemer

    Research output: Contribution to journalShort surveypeer-review

    408 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Apoptosis-inducing factor (AIF) is encoded by one single gene located on the X chromosome. AIF is ubiquitously expressed, both in normal tissues and in a variety of cancer cell lines. The AIF precursor is synthesized in the cytosol and is imported into mitochondria. The mature AIF protein, a flavoprotein (prosthetic group: flavine adenine dinucleotide) with significant homology to plant ascorbate reductases and bacterial NADH oxidases, is normally confined to the mitochondrial intermembrane space. In a variety of different apoptosis-inducing conditions, AIF translocates through the outer mitochondrial membrane to the cytosol and to the nucleus. Ectopic (extra-mitochondrial) AIF induces nuclear chromatin condensation, as well as large scale (~50 kb) DNA fragmentation. Thus, similar to cytochrome c, AIF is a phylogenetically old, bifunctional protein with an electron acceptor/donor (oxidoreductase) function and a second apoptogenic function. In contrast to cytochrome c, however, AIF acts in a caspase-independent fashion. The molecular mechanisms via which AIF induces apoptosis are discussed. Copyright (C) 2000 Federation of European Biochemical Societies.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)118-123
    Number of pages6
    JournalFEBS Letters
    Volume476
    Issue number3
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 7 Jul 2000

    Keywords

    • Apoptosis-inducing factor
    • Bcl-2
    • Cytochrome c
    • Mitochondrion
    • Programmed cell death

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